Capital City PCS - Lower School

Capital City continues to offer an outstanding personalized education. The addition of the new building has greatly expanded the opportunities available to cap city students -- athletic fields a play ground gym cafeteria and an auditorium only enhance an already great school.

The new building is great. The students finally have a gym and athletic fields that they never had before. Even though the new building is much bigger Capital City has maintained it's small school feel.

Judging from some of the reviews its fair to conclude some parents are not happy but please be reminded it is only their experience at CCPCS. It takes a lot of hard work passion and dedication to ensure every child has a fair shot at academic success and for years Capital City has done just that. If your child cannot adapt to this environment it is your duty as a parent to do whats best for your child without being negative by trying to malign the hard working staff. It is utterly tasteless especially for parents and students who continue to attend.

Starts well with the Pre-K and lower elementary then gradullay the quality of instruction and teachers decline. No wonder only a few students in grades 5-8 are original CCPCS students. For us it's been an utter disappointment. In addition to wasting pivotal academic years we now have to deal with the fact that my child has completely lost self confidence in himself and his ability to be successful in school.

For those who are confused by the conflicting reviews please be aware that this school is a bit like a private club. If your are actively and aggressively fundraising for the school your childen's shortcomings will be regarded as qualities and they will get raving reviews from teachers. For those children who are academically gifted and self motivated and do well in any school setting the school is adequate especially in the lower grades. Also quite a number of students are tutored regularly outside the school throughout the school year. If you can afford this then keep your kids in the school.. If not go elsewhere . If you're interested go on the OSSE website and see for yourself the HUGE achievement gap between the white kids and the rest.

This is the best school I have been to! They have excellent teachers and an amazing arts program. I went there for 7 years and loved every minute of it! You should definitely consider this school! This is coming from a student.

After school activities fitness and the electives are interesting Other than that we get worksheets in every subject give them to the teacher and don't know how we did. One month later we get some worksheets back to put in our portfollios. I am not learning much in this school.

I am a student in middle school and I have some really good teachers like the music and drama teachers and not so good classroom teachers because they want us to do the work at our desk independently and say they cannot explain more when we ask for help. Last year I learned a lot in science in my other school but this year we learned one song about plants. Capital City is a good school if you like to work alone in math and language and do not bother the teachers with questions.

This is our first year at CCPCS. Already two months into the school year and we know almost nothing about the curriculum or guide in Language Arts Mathematics or Science as the school does not use textbooks. The only thing we were told is that each class has an expedition to study. Homework in grade six consists primarily of reading library books and free writing with no comments from the teacher. My child comes home and says the teacher is a "worksheet teacher". I have made several attempts to get a copy of these worksheets but have not received anything yet. Frequent field trips music art and drama classes are this school's forte; unless you can tutor your child to keep the academic core subjects on grade level look elsewhere. We are.

The teachers and staff are the best! They know my kids and know how to get the best out of them. My kids look forward to school.

Solid school in terms of facility. Great arts program. Needs a shake up in leadership at the very top. Very admin heavy. Not enough experienced teachers who stay in a grade level for more than a few years. Staff seems to train each other rather than get outside experiences. Great adventure program. Children can have fun and learn some. Inconsistent teaching and lack of a strong clear curriculum can make the experience here very mixed.

I have been here since the school started and as a 8th grader I have a hard time saying good bye. The staff was excellent but it is going downhill. The staff has gotten worse and worse. They can't seem to hold a math teacher for over a half of a school year. The teacher left with no replacment. They shouldn't have hired a teacher like that. The replacement is okay but we've only had him a week or two. The student though gets a one-on-one learning experiance and gets help when he needs it. Even though the teachers tend to come and go they are normally highly qualified and a good teacher who cares about the student. The school really feels like one big community where you know many people. This is not the place to go if you want your child to get a big school experiance though.

The main reason we chose Capital City Public Charter School is because there are two teachers in every elementary classroom. This is a great ratio for public school. In addition to two classroom teachers there is an inclusion teacher for each grade level. Capital City is a small school. There is only one class per grade level PK-8 (elementary classes are combined PreK / K 1/2 3/4). Students are offered music PE art and drama weekly. This year children will be able to participate in choir plays and violin lessons afterschool. There is a high level of parent involvement. Parents are required to volunteer 20 hours a year.

CCPCS follows a child-focused program of exploratory learning. The principal Karen Dresden is an experienced teacher who served as consultant to the parent-led group that established the school six years ago. Problems with overcrowding as the school grew from PK thru 3rd to now having a full PK - 8th program have been resolved this Sept. as children reported to a new facility at 15th & Irving Sts NW. The building was once a church and a community center but it is now modern and airy and state-of-the-art. There is a high level of parent involvement (a minimum of 20 volunteer hours per year is required - many families do much more).